Florida International law school opens doors for minorities _ literally.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

MIAMI _ Beginning Monday, Christina Palin will start her days at sunrise, forgo her lunch hours and tuck her young daughter into bed by 7 p.m. _ all so she can spend her nights taking lecture notes and poring through legal textbooks.

For Palin and more than 100 others, almost every spare moment will go toward learning the law at Florida International University, which achieves a new milestone next week when classes start at the only public law school south of Orlando.

FIU officials, politicians and community leaders battled for 14 years with state officials to establish the program, which is geared toward serving the region's growing minority population.

The need is well-documented: Minorities make up about 30 percent of the state's …